The FIFA Council established a taskforce to "bolster the consultation process" at a meeting in Rwanda's capital Kigali today.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino had hoped to get the backing of the ruling body to move forward with the overhaul of the Club World Cup and the establishment of a worldwide nations league following a $25 billion (£19.4 billion/€21.9 billion) investment offer from an unnamed consortium earlier this year.

But his plans were met with fierce opposition, particularly from UEFA, with officials from European football's governing body threatening to walk out of today's meeting if the proposals were put to a vote.

The Council instead confirmed a taskforce would be set up to further delve into the idea.

The panel, which will consist of the Bureau of the Council - the six Confederation heads plus Infantino - will present its findings for consideration at the next meeting in Miami in March.

Infantino attempted to play down the delay today by claiming that the decision from the Council did not represent a "concession" from what he initially wanted.

The FIFA President, who has spearheaded the controversial changes to the radical overhaul of football's calendar, also hit back at opposition for their "dramatic" criticism.

"Not to take a decision is also to take a decision," Infantino said.

"I don't know why this needs to take such dramatic tones, we were speaking about general principles.

"Everyone agrees the Club World Cup needs to be revamped.

"We were not going to decide today how to revamp them.

"There are different options on the table and we will see.

"Hopefully we will come with some good news for world football sooner rather than later."

The Council was presented with two options for an expanded Club World Cup, which currently features seven teams from six confederations.

One option will see the tournament staged every four years in place of the flailing Confederations Cup, held the year before the World Cup.

Under the second proposal, the competition, which currently features seven teams from six of FIFA's confederations, would become an annual event in July or August.

Infantino said the amount of teams could even grow to 32, depending on the outcome of the consultation process.

A global Nations League mirroring similar formats recently introduced by UEFA and the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, is also in the pipeline.

When the plans were initially revealed earlier this year, UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin claimed they were "highly cynical and ruthless mercantilism".

Čeferin is thought to have led the charge of opposition from UEFA at the meeting, while the European Club Association (ECA) has also spoken out against the plans.

The ECA said approval from the FIFA Council would have represented an "institutional crisis with potentially severe and far reaching consequences".